Gretel's Grief
by Information is CLASSIFIED
Summary: The end of the story from Gretel's point of view. I had to write this a while back for English class and I figured that I would put it up on here. I would find it quite delightful if you were to review it (constructive criticism is desirable).


Gretel studied her maps, gleaming pins were placed in various positions across its surface. She hummed as she looked down at the newspaper detailing the army's movements; smirking she moved one of the pins deeper into enemy territory; they would win, of that she was sure! Germany was superior, none could stand against its wrath! She frowned as she had to replace one of the cheery red pins with a sullen blue; the thrice darned North Americans had captured one of the troops! Her fingers fumbled as she tried to move another pin and it fell to the floor. Bending down she spotted it rolling, stopping a couple of feet away from her dolls. Grabbing it, she looked at them; they had fallen into disarray as she had begun to neglect them in favor of her maps. She turned around, tensing as she heard the floorboards creak, creeping closer to the partially open door she looked through the crack and saw... her brother. Bruno, the nine-year old annoyance of her life, ever intent on getting in her way, bothering her, and over-all being a nuisance; though he wasn't so bad as before they left Berlin and came to Auschwitz she mused watching him attempt to be stealthy as he walked down the stairs. She closed the door as his head disappeared down the stairs; he was going to get a snack undoubtedly. Turning back to her dolls she picked up one in the back; well remembered was the day that she had received her...

_Gretel glared bitterly at Bruno, not yet having forgiven him for breaking her favorite doll the day before. _

_"Gr-Gretel," he said hesitantly,_

_"What?" she snapped as he approached her. He was looking at her as if half-expecting her to bite his head off;_

_"I-I got you something... I'm, I'm sorry for breaking your doll yesterday..." He trailed off and brought a not-quite-big-yet-not-quite-small box from behind him. He held it up to her, a silent plea for forgiveness visible in his eyes. Her stance lost some of its tensness at his apology, she might as well give him a chance. Taking the box she opened it, inside was a blonde doll with big, sky-blue eyes and a matching dress; it was the doll she had confided to him that she would love to own. She fingered one of its golden ringlets before putting the it- and the box- down and flinging on to him in a hug. He squirmed, attempting to escape from her grip,_

_"Thank you!" She cried happily._

Gretel pursed her lips, Bruno was a better brother than she gave him credit for. Placing the doll on the shelf she straightened the others; sorted by color they created a rainbow of sorts on the shelf.

"Gretel!" Mother said from the doorway of the oblivious girl's room.

Yes?" She asked looking up from her book,

"I called your name at least five times!"

"Sorry..."

"I wanted to ask if you knew where Bruno is, I can't find him."

"Bruno? I think that he's outside."

"Well, would you mind looking for him, please? It's almost dinner time" Mother said with the slightest tinge of annoyance in her voice.

"No, Mother," Gretel said putting down her book (though truthfully she did mind as she would have preferred to be reading).

"Thank you!" Gretel nodded (though Mother had already left) and got up off of her bed. Glancing into Bruno's room (just to make sure) she clomped down the stairs. Outside was muddy,

"Urgh," she shuddered as it made a squelching sound beneath her boot. "Bruno!" She called. Receiving no reply she walked over to the side of the house behind the kitchen, thinking him to be playing on the tire-swing he had built. The tire-swing looked like it hadn't been used in a long while. "Bruno!" She called louder than before. Still having yet to get a reply, she continued to walk along side the house, stopping at the corner, not wanting to defy Father's orders and go anywhere near the fence. "Bruno!" She hollered, her voice laced with annoyance. She sighed and walked over to the front of the house, she could see her window! However, she continued onto the other side. She wasn't sure what Bruno did out there, all it was was mud, rocks, and trees, "Bruno!" She screamed, he didn't come so she shook her head and gave up. Where else was there to look?

"Where's Bruno?" Mother asked when Gretel came into the kitchen alone.

"I couldn't find him," she shrugged. Mother sighed, "thank you for looking for him." Turning to Maria she said: "Don't let dinner burn, please."

"Of course not, Miss" Maria replied stirring whatever was in the big metal pot in front of her. Mother shook her head (most likely at Bruno's antics) and began looking for him, joined a half-hour into her search by Father. The two searched for another hour before giving up. Gretel watched as Mother came in and collapsed onto a chair and Father hollered

"Bruno!" one last time.

"I don't get it, where could he be?" Mother asked pinching the bridge of her nose. Formerly pristine she now was slightly messy: the hem of her skirt had an inch of mud and her red-hair was beginning to come out of its net.

"Maybe he's dead," Gretel said. She didn't believe it herself, but one was supposed to answer Mother.

"Gretel! Don't say such things, your brother is not dead!" Mother exclaimed.

"Maybe he ran away like a character from one of those fantasy novels he is so fond of then," She said examining her fingernails. Her concern was hidden, not surfacing until dinner, when all she did was pick at her roast beef. After dinner, she cleaned up, changed and went straight to bed.

The next day was much like any other, once you get rid of the ever-increasing tension and soldiers searching for Bruno. It was same the next day and the next day and would have been the same the next day had a soldier not come rushing in, "Where is your father, Miss?" He asked politely albeit hurriedly.

"In his study, why?" Alas her question was left unanswered as the soldier had already gone. A mere second later, Father was rushing out the door, she didn't get a chance to ask him what was going on, and so she focused on making her tuna sandwich for lunch. Anon, he came back dejected, a pile of filthy clothes in his arms along with Bruno's boots. She would later think, with a slight degree of humor, of the mental image that flashed through her mind of Bruno running around like a naked little boy, it wasn't overly humorous at the present, however. Father put the clothes in the laundry before going to speak with her mother. After finishing her school Gretel went to her room and attempted, unsuccesfuly, to read. Her mind continually wandered to Bruno and why he was running around in nothing but his undergarments. Soon, however, she was relieved of the burden of trying to amuse herself as Maria came in,

"Miss Gretel, your father would like to see you in his study," the maid said. Gretel nodded before going, normally Father's Study was off-limits to her and Bruno.

"Father?" She asked, breathing slowly in an attempt to calm herself.

"Gretel," he beckoned her over a grave look on his face.

"Yes?" She asked walking over.

"Before Bruno's disappearance was he acting abnormal at all to you?

"Weirder than normal? Not really..."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing weirder than his imaginary friend Shmuel," Father tensed.

"Did he describe his friend in great detail?"

"Not really,"

"What did he tell you about him?"

"Bruno said that Shmuel lived above a watch-shop and would tell him about his family and adventures he had before coming here." Father leaned back,

"Thank you Gretel, you may leave now."

"Of course Father," she climbed the stairs to her room and collapsed onto her bed.

It had been intended that Mother, Gretel, Bruno, and Maria would leave Auschwitz that week, but with Bruno missing that didn't happen. They had stayed several months past when they intended to leave for Berlin and had yet to find Bruno. Gretel analyzed Bruno's room, it was coated in a thin layer of dust, reminding her greatly of back in Berlin when she and Bruno had begun to explore the house. She recalled that they had been about seven and four respectively. They had been exploring the West Side of the house and came upon a door, it wasn't a particularly noticeable door, which made it all the more enticing! Opening the door Gretel walked in, she screamed and Bruno rushed in, "where's the monster?" He asked, holding up his wooden sword to defend his sister, finding the monster he swat at it, effectively removing it from their presence. Putting his sword back into his belt, he walked over to his trembling sister, "don't worry, I'll protect you Gretel!" He told her earnestly. Their parents appeared not a second later.

"What's wrong?" Mother fretted,

"A spider scared Gretel, but I got rid of it!" He told them proudly.

Bruno had been so cute when he was little, he was always trying to protect her from her fears. After they had stopped being homeschooled and made friends, a rift had formed between them; she had always blamed it all on his immaturity, but now Gretel couldn't help but wonder if it had been on her part as well. She trudged down the stairs, the air in Auschwitz was thick with grief and the occupants were no better. "Gretel pack your things! We are going back to Berlin!" Mother said, her voice was a mixture of hope, determination, and fear. Hope that they would find Bruno, determination to find him there, and fear that he wouldn't be; Gretel, however, was unaware of her mother's thoughts and therefore extremely confused.

"Why?"

"Your brother may have gone home without us, he could be waiting for us!" That was enough to spur Gretel into action, quick as a flash she was in her room and hardly a half-hour later she was in the car on her way to Berlin. The car had barely stopped when Mother jumped out, only to have her hopes dashed by the empty doorstep. Gretel was out of the car a second later and was equally disappointed; her bag seemed to grow heavier in her hand as she looked around, there was no Bruno. Heavy-hearted the mother and daughter entered the house. Blowing some dust off of the banister, she remembered with a pang how much Bruno loved to ride down it. He had made a game of it, when he disembarked from the banister he had to land with both feet on the floor otherwise he had to try again. Feeling tears come to her eyes she hurried up into her room. She dropped her suitcase and flung herself onto her bed crying. She couldn't care less that she no longer had her dolls, she couldn't care less that she no longer had her maps, she just wanted her little brother.

It was a few months before Father came home, Mother and Gretel came running out to hear if he had found Bruno. The look of defeat on his face was foreign to her, never before had her father looked so vulnerable and powerless, it defied all logic! Father never gave up! And yet what else could the despairing look on his face mean? It was a somber party that entered the house, effectively crushing any hope that Maria had of Bruno being found. "Is there any news on Bruno?" Mother asked, wanting something to reassure her that her little boy was, if not well, at least alive. No one commented as a tear slid down Father's face as he replied:

"He's dead."

"How?" Mother asked, her knees weakened and she collapsed onto the couch crying.

"Gretel, leave," Father ordered, not wanting her to hear the tale.

"But-"

"Leave." She nodded, his tone made it clear that he would not bend. She left the room yes, but she didn't go far as she stayed outside the door listening as Father recanted his theory about Bruno's death. "Before we left Auschwitz Bruno went over to the fence," Mother let out an audible gasp, "I'm not sure how long he had been going there, but I suspect that it was long enough to meet his 'imaginary' friend Shmuel, some how Shmuel managed to convince him to go over to the other side of the fence."

"How did he-"

"An area of the fence was not properly attached to the ground leaving enough room for a small boy to get through."

"Oh,"

"On the day-" Father's voice cracked, "on the day that he went missing a number of Jews were rounded up and gassed."

"He-"

"He was with them." Horrified Gretel leaned against the wall, feeling to weak to hold herself up. Hearing Maria's footsteps, she scurried up the stairs, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping. Once in her room Gretel burst into tears. The Jews had killed her brother! A small part of her said 'No, it was Hitler who had the Germans who had rounded up the Jews, it was Hitler who had the Germans operate the gass-chamber, it was Hitler who had the Germans kill her brother; the Jews were victim to the same fate as Bruno.' It was Hitler who had killed Bruno, and she despised him for it!

*It is my opinion that after Bruno's death Gretel began to see the Nazis as monsters and began to help the Jews in any way she could, even going so far as to harbor them in her house when she was grown.

**It's the closest thing that I can get to a happy ending.


End file.
